


Marginal Sentiments

by LoneWulffe



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: (have some happiness to help deal with the current angstfest), F/M, Fluff and Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2019-01-20 20:28:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12441087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoneWulffe/pseuds/LoneWulffe
Summary: Kara takes care of her books. Mon-El scribbles in them. A compromise is found.





	Marginal Sentiments

**Author's Note:**

> As usual, no betas checked my work so let me know in the comments if you spot any mistakes.
> 
> This fic is set between 2x15 and 2x16 but the show never really did say how much time had passed between those two episodes so I'm just going to pretend it was at least a few days. It's basically my attempt to tie together the fact that Mon-El canonically scribbles in the margins of books (I actually said "That romantic bastard" out loud and teared up during that opening scene) and Kara didn't know he was reading Romeo and Juliet when he first mentions it in 2x17. Also, I feel like Kara's totally the type to fuss over her books being in perfect condition (or maybe that's just me projecting).

> “ _My best friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read.” – Abraham Lincoln_
> 
>  
> 
> “ _It is a truth universally acknowledged that people write the darndest things in the margins of their books.” – Tara Bray Smith_

 

* * *

 

Kara loved books. She loved everything about them from their ability to transport her to impossible worlds without her having to leave her room to the simple smell of them no matter whether they were new or old. Krypton had long moved past physical reading materials by the time she had been born with the rare exception here and there so she had grown up with datapads and holoscreens instead.

When she had arrived on Earth, books had been one of the first few things she had embraced wholeheartedly. They were not only fun and enjoyable ways to learn more about Earth culture as well as escape reality when things felt overwhelming but also trustworthy companions she didn't have to pretend to be 'normal' around.

The Danvers had quickly picked up on her passion for reading and gladly encouraged her to pursue it by taking her to the bookstore every time they went to the mall and Earth birthday gifts also tended to include a new book from whichever genre had recently captured her imagination. (Alex had initially been somewhat overenthusiastic in 'recommending' her favourites, leading to more than a few... interesting... arguments between the two sisters.) She'd cherished each and every one of them and fussed about keeping them in pristine condition to the point of near-obsession.

By the time she was preparing to move to National City, she had had to reluctantly leave behind several floor-to-ceiling shelves' worth of books. Space both in her dorm and later on the apartment she'd 'inherited' from Alex had made it impossible to restore her collection so she'd had to rely on the library and buy only the few books she was absolutely sure she wanted to read over and over again.

It was therefore practically inevitable that she would share her hobby with Mon-El once they started taking the first tentative steps towards overcoming old prejudices and establishing a friendship. She'd enthusiastically extolled the virtues of reading while simultaneously talking up some of her favourite titles before awkwardly trailing off once she'd noticed his amused grin and subsequently realised she'd been babbling for more than five minutes.

Embarrassed, she'd then shoved an extra copy of And Then There Were None she'd bought when she'd mistakenly thought she'd lost her original copy into his hands and mumbled that he could have it for as long as he liked. He'd smiled as he'd thanked her and assured her that he would enjoy it. She herself had been unable to stop neither the smile that spread across her face nor the mysterious fluttery feeling in her chest as she voiced her hope that he would enjoy it as much as she did.

In the ensuing chaos that consumed their lives – Medusa, the 'forgotten' kiss, Slaver's Moon, Livewire, his confession, the White Martian attack, Lillian, her two confessions with an unwanted suitor in-between them to boot, them getting together and Jeremiah –, she almost entirely forgot about the book. It was not until after things had settled down for the most part and Mon-El began spending more time at her apartment that she saw and thus remembered the loaned item again.

For some reason, a strange sense of dread filled her the moment she laid eyes on the book which lay innocently on the coffee table. The reason became clear once she'd overcome her trepidation and began flipping through the pages: several corners had creases where they'd obviously been dog-eared at some point and the margins were littered with little notes penned in his surprisingly neat handwriting. His scribbled musings mostly chronicled his thoughts as he'd progressed through the story – everything from finding the mansion in the story 'creepy' to noting at certain junctions who he was absolutely sure was the culprit – while some were reminders to research words and phrases he didn't quite understand.

Kara the Girlfriend found them endearing.

Kara the Book Lover, on the other hand, immediately saw red.

“Mon-El,” she started as she spun on her heel to confront him where he was sitting at the dining table browsing the internet. When he looked up at the sound of his name, she all but shoved the open book into his face. “Why did you scribble all over the book I lent you?”

Having clearly detected her less than pleased disposition if the look on his face was any indication, it took him a moment to respond. “...Was that not what the space there was for?” he asked uncertainly.

“Wh- No!” she responded a little more forcefully than she intended but was too worked up to control herself. “What gave you that idea?!”

“I... sorry,” he apologised as he dropped his gaze and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “I thought it was like the datapads back on Daxam where you could add notes to parts of a document except in, you know, physical form.”

His instant and sincere admission helped bank the fire of her anger and she bit the inside of her cheek in an attempt to prevent herself from yelling at him again. It was true that the function he described had also existed in the datapads back on Krypton so she was aware of what he was talking about. On top of that, even digital documents here on Earth now allowed for notes to be made on it without it appearing on the main body of text so his mistake was somewhat understandable. “I know what you mean,” she finally sighed as she lowered the book, “but doing it in physical books is kind of... rude, I guess? Especially when you don't own the book in question.”

“I get that now,” he winced. “Sorry again. I'll... uh, buy you a new copy to replace this one tomorrow.”

“That's okay,” she shook her head resignedly. “It's an extra copy and I was going to give it to you if you told me you liked it anyway.”

“Thanks,” he offered her a weak smile but it was clear that he was still a little distressed about having upset her.

Kara bit her lip as a pinprick of guilt manifested and slowly grew in her heart. She was willing to admit – internally anyway – that she might have overreacted a little and it was partially her fault for not being clear about how to treat the book when she'd first given it to him. Additionally, it was obvious that he was making an effort to learn more about Earth culture through reading and she didn't want to discourage him from that even if she didn't necessarily approve of how he was going about it. Maybe she could buy him a few more books but teach him how to take care of them...? No, that was probably going to compound his guilt and he'd avoid making notes as a result. (It also didn't help that she was almost immediately reminded of the fact that she'd recently lost her job and thus couldn't afford to splurge on non-essentials anytime soon.)

Then an idea occurred to her. “Hold that thought,” she told him and pulled out her phone so she could find what she was looking for. She was sure she'd gotten the e-mail a few days ago... “Aha!” she crowed with delight upon locating it and held out her phone towards him so he could see the screen.

“Warehouse sale...” Mon-El read out loud before looking up at her in confusion. “Why do I need to buy a warehouse?”

She blinked owlishly at him as her brain took a moment to process his question. “What? No, that's not what a warehouse sale is, silly! A lot of stores overstock items usually because they order too much from the manufacturers or not enough people buy the stuff. It takes up a lot of space and after a while they need to get rid of it in order to make room for the new items coming in so they sell it all off at really low prices. That's what warehouse sales are,” she explained.

“Okay...” he nodded slowly as he absorbed the new information although it was clear he hadn't connected the dots judging by the look on his face. “What does this have to do with me scribbling in your book?”

“Grab your jacket,” she grinned at him. “We're going book shopping.”

 

* * *

 

“Um. Wow.”

Kara couldn't help but smile at Mon-El's expression as he took in the sight of all the books before him. “I know you don't have a lot of things to call your own besides the essentials like clothes and all that so I figured you might want to have a book collection since you seem to like reading like me. The prices here are really low too which means you'll be able to buy a lot of books at once without going broke. Plus, you can scribble away in them all you want since they'll belong to you and I won't say anything.”

He flashed her a boyish grin. “Thanks, Kara.”

“Well, all I did was bring us here,” she waved off his gratitude before lightly shoving him down one of the aisles. “Now go find something you like! I'm going to go browse what they have here on my own so I won't hover and try to tell you what to buy. Come find me once you're done.”

“Okay then. See you later,” he murmured and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before wandering off. For a brief moment, Kara found herself worrying just what kind of books he might end up buying – her mind briefly conjured up the image of him coming back with a copy of, Rao forbid, Fifty Shades of Grey – before shaking off the horrifying thought almost immediately. Maybe she could just double-check his purchases later just in case... but first, she had her own titles to hunt down.

 

* * *

 

A tap on her shoulder and a soft “Hey” drew Kara out of her thoughts and she looked up from the copy of President Marsdin's biography she'd been reading to find Mon-El grinning at her with a sizeable cardboard box tucked under one arm.

“Oh, you're done already?” she asked quizzically and glanced down at her watch to find that only an hour and a half or so had passed. “That was pretty fast.”

“I got help. Abigail over there-” he pointed at a girl in uniform scowling in their direction, “-was kind enough to give me some advice on what were good choices for someone who was just starting to, in your words, 'discover the joys of reading'. Strangely enough, she stopped being so helpful once I mentioned I was here with my girlfriend.”

Ah. That explained the glowering. And possibly the slowly growing smile on her own face. “Really? How strange,” she commented airily.

“Yeah, can't imagine why,” Mon-El smirked and leaned in to kiss her lightly on the lips.

When he pulled away, Kara found that the glare directed her way had turned positively murderous. There also seemed to be more than one person sending less than positive looks their way this time. (She was briefly reminded of the time her blind date had not only bailed on her but also flirted with the coat check attendant on his way out and marvelled at how different things were now.) “Okay,” she giggled as she playfully shoved him away, “I think we'd better leave before Abigail or any of the other people giving us dirty looks throws a book at us or something.”

“You're not going to buy anything?” he asked in surprise.

She shook her head. “Couldn't find the books I wanted. I think they're still too new so it'll probably be a while before they go on sale. But that's not important. What kind of books did you get?”

He narrowed his eyes at her at that. “Why do you want to know?” he asked warily.

_I want to make sure you're not reading anything inappropriate_ , she thought but wisely kept that to herself. “Just... curious...” she answered slowly.

That unfortunately only made him even more suspicious. “Why, are you afraid I got books that might be more interesting than anything you've read before?”

“Pfft, as if!” she laughed off his ridiculous question. “I've read all the best books out there, okay?”

“Then there's something else you're hiding from me,” he surmised. “So I'm not going to tell you. And don't even think about using your X-ray vision to peek!” he warned as he turned his body so that the box containing his books was slightly further away from her than before.

“Wha- I wasn't going to!” she shot back defensively. (She had in fact considered it for a second.)

“Crinkle,” he said as he pointed an accusatory finger at said crinkle. “Yep, definitely not going to tell you and definitely leaving now before you actually do use your powers to find out what I bought.”

“Wait, Mo- Mike!” she called out at his retreating back. “I promise not to look! Just tell me a-a few titles! Okay, just one is enough! I told you about this sale and brought you here so you owe me at least that much! Mike, stop walking away from me!”

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, the new episode gave me a shot of inspiration so I had to get it out of my system. Plus I figured we all needed some fluff after the amount of pain and suffering the episode put us through especially thanks to Melissa's amazing acting skills. (Someone please tell me how we can still get so much content even though half our ship isn't present? Anyone?) Now I'm really hoping this doesn't become a pattern or I'm never going to finish writing my other fics...


End file.
